A Little Music
by Eirian
Summary: Usagi listens to a little American pop music, and gets a surprise visit from someone! I suck at these things! Just a little piece of fluff.


This is a complete fluff story! There is no plot, basically I just ramble on until I can find a good place to stop. If you live for that kind of thing, GO FOR IT!  
  
WARNING #1: I use the Japanese names in here, but it's only two characters, so it's not too hard to figure out, I guess. I also use some Japanese words, I think just 'hai'(yes) and 'youma'(monster), pretty standard. If you find any that you don't know, or don't understand the names, feel free to e-mail me at sailor_silver_fox@hotmail.com. I will definitely answer your e-mail! (I like getting e-mail! ^_^V)  
  
WARNING #2: This could be considered AU. It's set around the time Mamoru asked Usagi to marry him, with the ring and all, but... BOY did I screw with that! Mamo-chan is nowhere NEAR America... although Usagi is listening to American pop music, so... anyway, if you're a real stickler for stories staying in the guidelines of the anime/manga... don't say I didn't warn ya!  
  
Disclaimer-- None of the characters portrayed or mentioned in the following short work of fiction belong to the author, they belong ultimately to Takeuchi Naoko, as well as any corporations she is in association with. The songs *I Thought She Knew* and *This I Promise You* belong to *NSYNC, and are being used without permission.  
  
And now... drumroll... ON WITH THE SHOW!!!  
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She wanted to cry her eyes out. She was happy, and yet... she was sad. She'd just come back from an afternoon spent with Mamoru. They had walked through one of the many parks near his apartment. She had hung on his arm, and he had almost seemed as if it didn't make him uncomfortable.  
  
They'd been going out for almost two years, had been through what seemed like twenty. She knew Mamoru was... not used to people touching him. Or hugging him. He didn't mind passionate embraces...Hoooh, no, not at all. But... it was the everyday things, that she didn't think twice about, that seemed to give him a slight case of the heebie-jeebies.  
  
She sighed, grabbing her CD player remote and hitting play. She knew *NSYNC was in there, but didn't realize the 'random' function was on. What she was expecting was 'Bye, Bye, Bye!'. What she got was a sad sounding acoustical song. Great, just what she needed. A sad song about someone getting dumped just when she was already sinking into depression.  
  
She cocked her head to the side, all thoughts drifting away as she listened to the lyrics.  
  
//She was my once in a lifetime  
Happy ending come true  
Oh, I guess I should have told her  
I thought she knew  
  
She said I took her for granted  
That's the last thing I would do  
Oh, I'll never understand it  
I thought she knew  
  
I thought she knew  
My world revolved around her  
My love light burned for her alone  
But she couldn't see the flame  
Only myself to blame  
I should have known  
(I should have known)  
  
A heart full of words left unspoken  
Now that we're through  
I turn my soul to   
Oh, I thought she knew  
(thought she knew!)  
  
I thought she knew  
My world revolved around her  
My love light burned for her alone  
But she couldn't see the flame  
Only myself to blame  
I should have known  
(I should have known)  
  
She was my once in a lifetime  
Happy ending come true  
Oh, I guess I should have told her  
But I thought she knew  
I thought she knew  
I thought she knew  
  
I thought that she knew\\  
  
She hadn't dumped him. But somehow, this was about her and Mamo-chan. He rarely ever told her he loved her, though she said it dozens of times a day. But just because he didn't say it... didn't mean that he didn't feel it. Wow... what a song.  
  
The CD changed, and she listened to it whir as it randomly chose another track. It ended on track 6.  
  
//When the visions around you  
Bring tears to your eyes  
And all that surround you  
Are secrets and lies  
  
I'll be your strength  
I'll give you hope  
Keeping your faith when it's gone  
The one you should call  
Was standing here all along  
  
And I will take you in my arms  
And hold you right where you belong  
'Til the day my life is through  
This I promise you  
This I promise you  
  
I've loved you forever  
In lifetimes before  
And I promise you never  
Will you hurt anymore  
  
I give you my word  
I give you my heart  
This is a battle we've won  
And with this vow  
Forever has now begun  
  
Just close your eyes  
Each lovin' day  
And know this feeling won't go away  
'Til the day my life is through  
This I promise you  
This I promise you  
  
Over and over I fall  
When I hear you call  
Without you in my life, baby  
I just wouldn't be living at all  
  
  
And I will take you in my arms  
And hold you right where you belong  
'Til the day my life is through  
This I promise you  
  
Just close your eyes  
Each lovin' day  
And know this feeling won't go away  
Every word I say is true  
This I promise you  
Every word I say is true  
This I promise you  
I promise you\\  
  
Whoa... now that was weird. Did her CD player do that on purpose... or was it truly random. 'It seems everything in my life is random, and yet it always has an odd logic to it all,' she mused.  
  
Just then, there was a light tap on her window. "It's open, Luna!" She switched off her CD player, knowing how the cat despised the teenage idol boy group.  
  
And then she realized she'd seen Luna downstairs getting table scraps from her mama. So then...? She spun around to find a tall figure standing beside her bed, the window curtains fluttering in the breeze of the now-open window.  
  
"Mamoru?" she squeaked, not quite sure what was going on. Mamoru stepped up in front of her, smiling softly. "Konban wa, Usako." I did his magic and pulled a rose out of his jacket, then handed it to her. She gasped as she took it. Instead of being red, which she knew was passion (which she knew he had in abundance), this was a pale pink, making it look fragile. It seemed to just be budding, if it were an ordinary flower just picked. It was smaller than most, still mostly bud, curled up and dainty.  
  
"I'm sorry I seemed so distant today, Usa," he murmured, stepping up close enough he could have wrapped his arms around her. "I had something on my mind. But I wasn't ignoring you."  
  
Usagi shook herself out of the daze the pink rose had put her under, and smiled up at him with love. "I didn't think you were ignoring me, Mamo-chan. Don't you know I wouldn't have LET you ignore me if I thought that was the case?"   
  
He smiled slightly, then looked down at the rosebud. "It's just like you."  
  
"I'm not fragile."  
  
A husky laugh, not made entirely of humor. "You can fight, hai. But I know how sensitive you can be, Usako-chan. Some might think you sense something and blow it out of proportion, but I know it's just that you're trying to protect your feelings, as easily battered as this rose." He stepped around until he was behind her, then wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin between her odangos. "And it's small. Smaller than most, not as much body or volume." He felt her stiffen slightly at that. He knew she was sometimes bothered that she was so small, smaller than all her friends, and being 'their princess', they felt it their duty to protect her, not realizing she perceived that as them saying she was weak and useless. But he knew better. He knew her like a book. "Open it, Usagi-chan. Just touch the top..."  
  
She gingerly reached up, the tip of her middle finger touching the center where all the petals were still closed and wrapped around each other... but as her finger touched it, the flower suddenly bloomed, opening and blossoming, becoming fuller and richer as it seemed to grow before her eyes, until it seemed too large for the stem to hold it. But it did...  
  
Usagi gasped, and felt Mamoru's hands tighten around her waist. Inside, in the very center where the pollen should be, sat a seemingly perfect diamond. It was round and glinted in the light, refracting it and tossing it back out as a rainbow on her face. And the diamond sat on a perfectly round gold band.  
  
"Oh... Mamo-chan!" She choked out through the sob that wrenched out of her throat, turning in his arms and burying her face in his chest. After a moment, she pulled back and stared into his eyes, which glistened with unshed tears, and undying love. "Is THIS what had you distracted?"  
  
He nodded. "I was trying to think of how I should ask you. Or even if I should ask you... I know our lives have been pretty hectic lately, with fighting Galaxia and everything... but I had to know."  
  
"What is there to know? Did you think I would turn you down?" She wasn't angry that he might have thought that, just... confused that he would.  
  
Mamoru sighed. "I didn't expect you to turn me down, but... you tell me you love me all the time, Usagi-chan, but... with all the times you say it, sometimes, I get to wondering how much is still heartfelt, and how much is reflex. I just wanted to hear you say yes. I don't want us to be together because we were in some past life. I love you, Tsukino Usagi. I want to know if you love Chiba Mamoru."  
  
Usagi blinked. Of course she loved him! But... she did say it so much... sometimes it did feel like habit. Not that it wasn't still true! But he did have a point. As for the other part... "Chiba Mamoru? Hmm... Mamoru-baka, the one who used to tease me about my test scores, harass me about my klutz attacks? Saved my kitty Luna, and said nothing when I accused him of trying to hurt her?" She smiled at the grimace on his face. "You know, I think I do love him. At least he didn't treat me like a fragile little rosebud." She cocked her head, thinking. "Or do you mean Chiba Mamoru, who played Virtual Reality games, and tried to save me even when he couldn't become Tuxedo Mask, and still didn't seem to like me? And who I helped take care of baby Jordan when his mama was attacked by a youma? Or do you mean Chiba Mamoru, the man who doesn't seem to realize how attractive he is to every girl who ever meets him, including all of my friends-with the exception of Michiru and Haruka, of course. The man who seems invincible, and only a few very fortunate souls get to be close enough to realize he's just as self-conscious as the rest of us, if not more so? Yes, I love him, too. More than I do Mamoru-baka, I think." She smiled up at him with clear blue eyes. "Does that answer your question, Chiba-sama?"  
  
He smirked. "Chiba-sama? Please, Usagi-chan. You NEVER held me in that high a regard."  
  
She looked down at the ring still in the center of her flower, plucked it out, and slipped it on her left ring finger. Then she reached up with both hands and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing her face to mere centimeters away from his. "Maybe I do now. You are, after all, going to be my husband, and the father of our child, aren't you?"  
  
He smiled softly down at her, though as close as she was, all she could see were his eyes. Which at the moment held just as much love as hers. "Yes, I am. I hope you don't mind if I permanently get rid of this 'Mamoru-baka' you keep speaking of. The guy sounds like a real jerk."  
  
Usagi sighed, her mind barely registering his words; most of her brain was occupied with the warm soft electricity she was feeling from being pressed against his body like she was. "Go ahead. Although he was cute..." she murmured the last part as his head bent down to catch her mouth with his.  
  
What a perfect ending...no, she thought, with what little of her brain was still functioning. Her body had already turned to gel.  
  
What a perfect beginning.  
  
OWARI  
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AN: Please don't flame me for this story, I had to get it out of my system, and I needed SOMETHING to post. I hope you liked it, but please don't go asking for a sequel or anything. I have 'Sailor Moon'ed myself out, and pretty much stay far away from the show, for fear of being hooked again (SO many of my friends teased me for being obsessed with the show!).  
  
Doesn't 'This I Promise You' just scream Sailor Moon? I mean, the lines that got me to thinking about it was *I've loved you forever/In lifetimes before*. Yeah. Anyway...  
  
Also, YES, if your CD player is on Random, it can play those two songs back to back. I was typing this story and decided to listen to the CD, and I love the Random thing, so I tried it. FIRST TIME AROUND, it played those songs in that order. It kind of gave me the chills. 


End file.
